KTA shoppers can donate to Habitat
KTA shoppers can donate to Habitat
This month at all KTA locations, shoppers are invited to support more affordable housing as they pay for their regular grocery items. At each cash register, bright green tags are available in denominations of $1 and $5. Shoppers can simply inform the cashier of the amount they would like to donate.
Donations can be made at any KTA store islandwide. All proceeds will be divided evenly between both East and West Hawaii Habitat for Humanity organizations. This is the fourth year of the KTA-Habitat for Humanity partnership.
“Our cash register donation tags are an easy and convenient way to donate, and that’s why we support the community like this,” said Pearl Daimaru, KTA representative. “This month, we’re pleased to partner with Habitat for Humanity, which builds affordable homes and operates a discount home improvement ReStore, to keep homes in good working order and prevent homelessness.”
“We are extremely grateful for this partnership with KTA and the public. Building homes builds lives — and that strengthens our community economically and socially,” said Julie Hugo, president of Hilo Habitat for Humanity. “Every gift is appreciated.”
Ohana Fuels helps Neighborhood Place
A portion of the proceeds from Ohana Fuels gasoline purchased through Sept. 30 will be donated to Neighborhood Place of Puna, nonprofit organization committed to helping parents raise safe and healthy keiki.
Ohana Fuels is a brand of Hawaii Petroleum Inc., whose officials say they are “proud to support the organizations and missions important to island families.”
“Neighborhood Place of Puna is one of the very few programs that East Hawaii families can turn to for support when things begin to get out of control and they recognize they need help as parents and as a family,” said spokesman Jay Ihara. “NPP provides consistent, ongoing, in-home, family strengthening services that may include: financial literacy training, basic parenting skills, age appropriate discipline, basic hygiene and life skills, connecting parents to available resources, helping parents understand their children’s developmental stages, and much more.
For more information, call him at 965-5550.
Sheraton Kona resort welcomes new execs
Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa at Keauhou Bay welcomes Matthew Grauso to the position of general manager and Revell Newton to the position of hotel manager at the 509-room oceanfront resort.
With more than 15 years of hospitality experience, 10 of them in Hawaii, Grauso brings an inclusive and energetic style of management to his promotion as general manager. With operational and management experience ranging from human resources to front office and rooms, Grauso, originally from Long Island, N.Y., was most recently hotel manager at the 1,695-room Sheraton Waikiki.
Newton has spent nearly 20 years as a leader on sales and marketing teams at some of the top hotels and resorts in Hawaii. In September 2003, he became the first executive team member at (then) Sheraton Keauhou Resort & Spa as its director of sales and marketing. In 2007, Newton was promoted to the position of complex director of sales and marketing for Starwood Hotels in Waikiki. Returning to the Big Island and promoted to the position of hotel manager at Sheraton Kona Resort & Spa, he will be overseeing day-to-day operations at the resort.
Rubenstein promoted to GM at Royal Kona Resort
Jay Rubenstein, a 25-year hospitality industry veteran in Hawaii, has been appointed to the position of general manager at the Royal Kona Resort. He replaces Lalo Fernandez, who transferred to his home state of California this month to join the Hogan Family Foundation and take over management of the Gardens of the World botanical gardens in Thousand Oaks.
Rubenstein, formerly director of sales and hotel manager at the Royal Kona Resort, began his career in the travel industry as a front desk agent at the Sheraton Waikiki. During his 18 years with Starwood, he was involved in various operations capacities and held several sales and marketing positions. He also helped open Starwood hotels on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island.
He later spent three years as general manager of the Regency at Hualalai, a retirement community on Hawaii. Prior to coming to the Royal Kona Resort in 2009, he was front office manager at The Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows.
Hawaii tops new Geostellar Solar Index
The state of Hawaii not-surprisingly ranks at the top of the list when it comes to a state’s residents benefiting from use of solar power, according to the Geostellar Solar Index, a new scientific and economic analysis of Americans’ savings through rooftop solar.
Elsewhere, Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts now outrank California, Arizona and New Mexico in the amount of money each ray of sunlight can generate for homeowners,
According to the Geostellar Solar Index, which will be revised and released quarterly, here are the annual yield rankings of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, averaged over the 25-year life of a solar array:
Last year, more than 82,000 homeowners across the country installed solar panels on their homes, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association, which said it was a record year. The SEIA also is projecting 2013 as another record year for residential solar deployments.